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Old House My House

Life in front of the camera and behind the scenes at a This Old House renovation.

Lights, please!

Given the big project that Raveen and I taking on with This Old House, you might wonder if we are experienced renovators. The answer is a resounding NO! Sure, we've done a few small projects here and there (minor bathroom remodels, painting, planting, etc.), but nothing anywhere near the magnitude of our current project. So we have LOTS to learn.

One subject in which we've been taking a crash course recently is lighting. Who knew there was so much to learn? We certainly didn't, but we now know that lighting can have a huge impact on the look and feel of a room, so it pays to get it right.

We are very fortunate to have lighting designer Susan Arnold from Wolfers educating us on lighting options, and helping us come up with a lighting plan that will make the most of our house. (Susan and our architect, Chris Chu, are shown here working on the lighting plan). For example, our house has relatively low ceilings. Susan showed us that lighting the walls and ceilings (via sconces, adjustable accent lights, and flush-mounts) can help downplay the low ceilings and make rooms feel larger. On the other hand, if we were to light the house only with recessed downlights (which primarily cast light onto the floor), the ceilings might appear even lower, and rooms would feel smaller.

Susan and her colleague, Bonnie Forbes, have also taught us about the latest and greatest LED lighting options. LED lighting has been around for years, but there are more and more LED fixtures available every day, and the quality and color of the light they provide has improved tremendously in recent years. They're still expensive, but the energy efficiency and long term savings in electricity are hard to beat. If we can find a way to work some LED fixtures into our plan, we'll do it!

(1) Comments

I hope your family has a nice fourth of July. You are right led lights are more expensive. I hope you look into dimable flourescent lights for the inside of your house. For the outside of your house such as with flood lights that are hard to reach you might want to consider led lights there. If I was you I would also try to stear clear of electronic switches for the most part except in some areas where you want to dim your lights. Consider some dimmable switches with remote controls they will save you some money over having an electrician wiring up a second switch to turn the lights off in another location. You just have to keep track of the remote. I have two of those in my house and they are great. Accent lights for your plants and house number are good to consider too for the outside. Good luck to you!